Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut

Sunday, November 29, 2009

It is exactly 27 years since I began working in the Parliamentary Library of NSW on 29th November 1982, but the memories of the Velvet Revolution of 1989 - the seven years difference blends into abyss ...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

First the memories of the Iron Curtain fall and today memories of the good old days in the NSW Parliamentary Library at the soulful reunion ... It’s been exciting times in the land of storytelling. About 40 people were gathered in the Heritage Room of the Bill and Tony for the reunion of former parliamentary library employees--including its most long-tenured employee and its sea-change or mountain professionals, of sorts.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Vaclav Havel's dramas, meanwhile, offered a road map to follow the fate of free thought in a repressive world. Young is the one that plunges in the future and never looks back When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object-- Milan Kundera

Václav Havel: the unlikely leader who became a symbol of liberationHelsinki Treaty Spurred Fall of Berlin Wall, End of CommunismWithin a year the 106-kilometer-long Berlin Wall was being dismantled, former jailed dissident Vaclav Havel was president of Czechoslovakia I had a piece in Crikey on Thursday about the Lisbon treaty, which is all set to come into force, but I wouldn’t want to let the occasion pass without a comment on the actual concession that secured its final ratification.Czech president Vaclav Klaus only agreed to sign the treaty after he was promised that his country would be allowed to opt out of the treaty’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

I cherish the words of hope of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, during his days of imprisonment. Those words captivated the imagination of many people ...Every now and then when the world seems to be falling apart and problems appear to be insurmountable, I recall with gratitude the heroes of the Velvet Revolution who helped to bring down the reign of Communism 20 years ago. I cherish the words of hope of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, during his days of imprisonment.

Those words captivated the imagination of many people as we witnessed the Communist regime finally come to an end: "The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

• But How the moral have fallen[Where did Vaclav Havel's anti-communist dream take us? Vaclav Havel, father of the Velvet Revolution 20 years ago, tells Adrian Bridge why he is still wary of the Russians ; Reservations]• · Václav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia, dissident and one of the key figures of the Velvet Revolution that toppled Communism in the former federation has become an honorary citizen of Bratislava. The Slovak capital granted him honorary citizenship on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the totalitarian regime for his fight for freedom, democracy and assisting in the process of Slovakia's integration into Europe Bratislava grants honorary citizenship to Václav Havel ; For older people, Czechoslovakia inevitably comes in a sentence that includes Hitler, Munich, Chamberlain, Daladier, appeasement, World War II and the falling of dominoes. Well, OK, technically, dominoes comes from just after World War II, but the dominoes threaten to fall in Southeast Asia precisely because of a presumed failure to learn those lessons of Munich. Neville Chamberlain, after all, has given us the final justification for appeasement when he explained to Britain in 1938 how “incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.”• · · From Prague to Berlin, liberty will always owe youthVaclav Havel, the dissident who led Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution, has used the 20th anniversary to warn Russia remains a threat despite the demise of the Soviet Union. The 73-year-old who played a pivotal role in freeing his country from communist rule in 1989, said that the Russian government had mastered the art of manipulating its population while maintaining democratic façade. The era of dictatorships and totalitarian systems has not ended at all Velvet Revolution Gave Teenager Freedom, Sent Havel to Castle; There’s one sound I shall never forget about the revolution that bustled the Communists out of power in Czechoslovakia 20 years ago: the jangling of door keys. Every night for a week, crowds gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square. At regular intervals, thousands of people in unison waved their keyrings above their heads. The noise echoed throughout the city, signifying to their hated communist masters: Vaclav Havel attacks Russia on anniversary of Velvet Revolution; Go home, here’s your key. It’s time to leave.• · · · Use the implicit wisdom and shared experiences of those inhabitants of a galaxy far, far away to raise your profile What Star Wars can teach us about career management ; More than half of what happens in the business world often seems to be outside the control of management. Dealing with the unknown • · · · · Michael Moore is back. The self-styled guerilla documentary maker has declared war on capitalism, branding it “inherently evil” and seeks to discredit everything and everyone within sight who has profited from such a system. Film review: 'Capitalism - A Love Story' directed by Michael Moore ; The exploitative capital accumulation system means that our bosses expropriate the value we workers create and return a small amount to us in the form of wages. Real tax reform: a love letter to Ken Henry; Private equity funds and the pillage of AustraliaPrivate equity funds are the bottom feeders of capital. They buy up what they judge to be under-valued companies, take a chainsaw to jobs and costs to increase the seeming value of the company in the short term and then flog off the entity at a large gain a little later. by John Passant ; "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." Douglas Adams.Adrian Low with John Passant

Monday, November 09, 2009

Sadly my brother in law, Eva's Franto passed away today and will not be able to celebrate this year the fall of the wall ...

Exactly 20 years ago from today, on 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev crossed a former fortified border on Monday to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!" as a throng of grateful Germans recalled the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall gave way to their desire for freedom and unity. Merkel lauds Gorbachev on Berlin Wall anniversary

The wall's 1989 fall remains a miracle Putin nostalgic for days as spy in East Germany but still not craving for truthIt's 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which split not only the city, but also the world and the KGB

Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, says he feels nostalgia for the former East Germany, recalling with fondness his five years as a KGB agent in Dresden. Mr Putin said in an interview with the NTV channel on Sunday that he had good memories of his 1985-90 posting in the city that included learning German, excursions to the mountains and contacts with his East German counterparts.I still remember this warmth and cordiality. I am very thankful for this. In this respect there is some feeling of nostalgia. feeling of nostalgia.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

‘We are one, but we are manyAnd from all the lands on earth we come.We share a dream and sing with one voice

I am, you are, we are

Australian.

Somewhere between paining Australian landscapes, writing poetry, improvising in a jazz band, helping charities, and becoming his own publicist, things got a bit out of control. Ruth Richmond makes clear that despite all the tribulations - the uncertainties of youth, the political isolation, and the high propensity to follow self interest of power hungry businessmen and politicians – John Hatton is blessed with an advantage that has seen him through life's vicissitudes inside and outside politics. He is, above all else, a rounded personality with the hinterland that Ruth, rightly identified as essential to the civilised man. That made it a pleasure to work with him and serve under him, whatever the political prospect. The life and of the finest politicians of his generation: To promote his biography JOHN Hatton is touring NSW

The Shaolin monks of central China are not known for their work as property developers. Incredible kung fu feats depicted in dubbed Hollywood movies are their main claim to fame Alarm at the sound of one hand upsizing

Life story of corruption fighter timely for NSWThe public and private livesFORMER NSW MP John Hatton, who in 1994 led the push for the Wood royal commission into police corruption, has called for a similar probe into the links between the state's politicians, public servants and property developers.Speaking at the launch of his biography yesterday, Mr Hatton - who served as an independent in the NSW parliament for 22 years until his retirement in 1995 - said the state's Independent Commission Against Corruption was "now just a shadow of its former self".

He claimed that allegations of impropriety by those involved in the planning and development process in NSW could not be adequately investigated by ICAC, and a royal commission was the only way corrupt practices within the industry could be exposed and dealt with."The scale of developer donations, distorted planning processes, influence-peddling and preferential treatment all attest to a climate conducive to corruption, which cries out for formal investigation," Mr Hatton said. The retired MP bemoaned "the failure of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to do anything about this disgusting situation".He said the lack of transparency in the state government's handling of planning issues, including property development applications, was "destroying local communities".Mr Hatton's push for a royal commission was yesterday backed by NSW Greens planning spokeswoman Sylvia Hale. But NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said any such inquiry should be conducted by ICAC.

• [THE stench of corruption in New South Wales planning and development is so strong that Premier Nathan Rees cannot avoid a royal commission, former MP John Hatton says.Mr Hatton has joined forces with the NSW Greens to call for an inquiry to "clean out the state's property and planning mess once and for all"."I challenge (the Government) to bring it on." They have got time before the next election to do that. I want them to clear the air ... of what I think is a corrupt process in NSW ... the failure of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to do anything about this disgusting situation, that I, as a retired MP, have to come here and walk the cliff of defamation yet again, and I don't enjoy that. "They have got time before the next election to do that. I want them to clear the air ... of what I think is a corrupt process in NSW ... the failure of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to do anything about this disgusting situation, that I, as a retired MP, have to come here and walk the cliff of defamation yet again, and I don't enjoy that; The Stench in This Parliament]• · The forthcoming publication of Ruth Richmond's biography about me has caused some introspection on what (with many other people) I achieved in 22 years in State Parliament – and to draw a comparison between that period, which ended a decade ago, and the state of NSW today. Last year, I felt depressed when former NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor and Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell failed to act on a well-researched report linking development approvals by Shoalhaven Council with developers who gave money to local government candidates. ; Epoch Times• · · State planning minister Kristina Keneally has made of a habit of dismissing allegations that political donations have influenced certain developments by challenging accusers to ‘put up or shut up’. Well, here’s her chance to clear the air of this ‘stench’ by agreeing to a royal commission into property and planning corruption in NSW. Former Independent MP John Hatton has called for the royal commission, saying the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has failed to act appropriately, calling it a ‘dud’. Fifteen years ago, the former MP successfully moved for such an inquiry into police corruption and it found police corruption endemic. Last week, his authorised biography, . The Stench in This Parliament, which raises the urgent need for such an inquiry, was launched Former Independent MP John Hatton is demanding a Royal Commission to clear the issue of property corruption in New South Wales, as he says the Independent Commission Against Corruption is failing to act appropriately. QUENTIN DEMPSTER, PRESENTER: John Hatton, the former Independent MP who successfully moved for a Royal Commission into police corruption in 1994, re-emerged this week to demand a Royal Commission into property and planning corruption in NSW. Mr Hatton, now 76, was a balance-of-power Independent in 1994. His authorised biography, The Stench in this Parliament, was launched by the Speaker of Parliament, Richard Torbay, this week. The Wood Royal Commission found police corruption was systemic and had been protected for decades through a corrupt internal culture's code of silence. That Royal Commission was brought in over the top of the existing Independent Commission Against Corruption, set up in 1989, 20 years ago. The Royal Commission under Justice James Wood recruited investigators from outside NSW because of concern that any inquiry could be compromised or subverted by leaks to NSW Police. John Hatton says the contemporary ICAC, under Commissioner Jerrold Cripps, QC, has failed to do its duty and a Royal Commission to clear the air of a stench around property corruption is now urgently needed• · · · The former independent Member for South Coast says he was depressed when several parties failed to act on a report about alleged links between Shoalhaven developers and former mayor Greg Watson. John Hatton says he worked with researchers to compile a 48-page report on alleged links between development approvals and the team of councillor Watson. Cripps did not mention names, but the comments come suspiciously close to former South Coast MP and corruption fighter John Hatton's crack at the ICAC as ''a shadow of its former self'' at the launch of his book, The Stench in this Parliament, earlier this month. Cripps did not mention names; FORMER NSW MP John Hatton, who in 1994 led the push for the Wood royal commission into police corruption, has called for a similar probe into the links between the state's politicians, public servants and property developers• · · · · "There is a climate of corruption in NSW," says John Hatton... Come to a free public forum on how communities can better equip themselves to operate in their own interest. The main speaker at the forum will be John Hatton, retired NSW Independent MP, and the subject of a recent biography by Ruth Richmond, The Stench in this Parliament. "The influence of developers, liquor and gaming interests, shooters and big business lobbyists is so great that unless communities take charge their lifestyles will continue to be eroded. The interests of residents of North Shore communities counts for nothing and can be sacrificed at the blink of an eye by a State government or a local council too focused on development and not enough on community."The Stench in this Parliament - free community forumBook Launch; • · · · · · The timing could hardly be better: as allegations of corruption continue to swirl around the NSW Parliament following the murder of Michael McGurk, the veteran former state MP and noted corruption fighter John Hatton has announced the imminent launch of his biography. Its title? The Stench in this Parliament. Penned by Ruth Richmond, the book contains a glowing forward from the Sydney Lord Mayor and state MP for Sydney, Clover Moore, who along with Hatton and Peter McDonald shared the balance of power in Parliament while Nick Greiner was premier. Hatton, who sat in Parliament for 22 years and was hated by politicians from both major parties, is credited with instigating the Wood Royal Commission into corruption in the NSW Police. The book is subtitled ''The story of the Independent nobody who brought down a premier referring to Hatton's lead role in forcing Greiner's resignation from Parliament over the Terry Metherell affair; Coverage ; Newsagency; Records of noteNational Library

CODA: Hatton queries ICAC role

Former MP John Hatton is launching his book at Manly Library on 22 November 2009.

OUTSPOKEN former MP John Hatton, who has called for a Royal Commission into links between developers, lobbyists, politicians and planners in NSW, will launch a book on his life at Manly Library tonight. The one-time independent politician spent 22 years in State Parliament and was renowned for his strong views, while his relentless quest for proper process exposed endemic corruption in the NSW Police Force. He told The Manly Daily there needed to be a proper investigation into the state’s planning system, a call backed by former mayor and one-time Manly MP Peter Macdonald.

Mr Hatton said the Independent Commission Against Corruption was failing to properly investigate allegations and was only going for the “softest targets”.“The question on my mind ... is: does ICAC have the will or professional investigative staff to use its extensive powers to get to the truth?” he said.Dr Macdonald, a former independent Manly MP, said he “absolutely supported” calls for a Royal Commission into the State Government. “A Royal Commission is the only way to have full disclosure, people can be forced to give evidence as opposed to an inquiry,” he said. The book, The Stench in this House, by Ruth Richmond was launched at Manly Library.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Malchkeoun and Media Dragon experienced a charming country atmosphere and warm Dr Cope's hospitality at Blue Bullaburra Mountain. The mountain is an idyllic location for that getaway - and I got to read more of the great stuff Kevin Roberts writes about songs and stories of life ...

What is a story? Dr Cope tells great stories

We can all recognize a story when we see one - from "Little Red Riding Hood" to Who Moved my Cheese? While exposition is straightforward explanation, a story or "narrative" is a series of linked events that unfold over time. It has characters with their own motivations. Storytelling is an ancient practice that has been adapted to various fields and each new type of media: from books to film to the Internet. As soon as you hear someone say, "Did you hear the one about...?" or "What happened at work today?" you know you're in for a story. We all inherently tell stories. And our learners respond to them.

Writing typically has been viewed as a soft skill that would be nice to improve, but not worth the time or money to invest in training. Most companies are more likely to invest in training for sales, project management, budgeting, or other skills that are easier to link to the bottom line. You, as learning professionals, are responsible for employee performance at your company or your clients company, so it is imperative that you pay attention to the overall writing quality of its employees. Managers at various levels and would-be managers can ruin their opportunities for advancement if they continually write documents that are unclear, riddled with grammatical mistakes, and offensive to their subordinates or clients.

You need to convey to people at all levels of the organization that writing clearly demonstrates that they can

Slow Foodhttp://www.project10tothe100.com/ideas.html Kris Kristofferson is one of the greatest all-time poets and songwriters and has lived a life full of hope, dreams, principles and values. “From Here to Forever” was written for his kids and I’d recommended it for parents and grandparents everywhere. “Fill your heart for the morning, tomorrow you still got a long way to grow, and the love that you’re dreaming will guide you and live like a song in your soul.” And finally, “Darling, take all the time that you’re given, be all you know you can be, and if you need a reason for living, do it for love and for me a reason for living, do it for love and for me

Ideas are the currency of the future and can come from anywhere, and Google probably know this more than anyone right now! To help celebrate their 10th birthday, Google invited people to submit their ideas to help make the world a better place for everyone with their special Project 10 to the 100th

150,000 ideas were sent in from people living in 172 countries, speaking 25 different languages. There were eight different categories that ideas: community, energy, environment through to health, education, shelter and opportunity, and not to forget the “everything else” basket. The same people who submitted ideas were then invited to vote on the best ones that should receive the $10 million that Google are going to invest and which should be announced soon.

You can see the full range of ideas. Some of the finalist ideas were:support efforts to increase young Africans' access to quality education by creating "cyber schools";

• [TV will never die, YouTube will never kill it. YouTube (or its future manifestations) will never die either, will never die either ; Under common law In Australia all employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of their staff; not only physical but also mental health and safety Being powerful has more to do with who you are as a person and less about having money ]•• The world of management is being reshaped by dramatic changes in the way the world of work and society is organised. Surviving the global financial crunch was tough enough. As businesses move back from the brink, though, the underlying challenges of generating innovation and growth must be tackled anew25 forces transforming the world; Before you start down the path to self-improvement, you need to set clear goals. This requires determining what you will be like once you have implemented the changes that you are seeking. Ask yourself some questions: How will 1 be able to measure whether or not I really have changed? How will others around me see the change? How will I feel, sound, and act differently from how I am perceived today? The more specific the goals are that you set, the better your chance to accurately measure the changes Leap of faith••• Each year brings different challenges for us especially of we read Jamais Cascio. For nearly the past fifteen years, I've been working as a futurist. My job has been to provide people with insights into emerging trends and issues, to allow them to do their jobs better. I've done this work for big companies and government agencies (usually under the Very Professional sounding title of strategic foresight), and for TV writers and game companies. It's quite an enjoyable job, as it allows me to indulge my easily-distracted curiosity about the world.You too can forecast the future! ; Web sites and organizations devoted explicitly to thinking about future possibilities can also be of great Value; A recent Stanford University study found that people who are "regularly bombarded" with multiple streams of electronic information and media have more problems with their memory, and have a harder time paying attention and switching from one task to another Multitasking may be hurting your brain•••• Nosy Norwegians ; When it comes to organised crime, Australian governments have said much and achieved littleSunlight is the best disinfectant …

If you must write, you must do it in the face of all opposition. […] Do not spend too much more time on culture & reading, these are traps. When everything conspires to make the thing impossible, when you are tired, worried, with no time, or money, it is then that things get done.
~ Samuel Beckett to Claude Raimbourg, 16 May 1954

A tale of Cold River, manages to trap a tiny speck of theatre of absurd of the kommunist Czechoslovakia in amber and then put time in a bottle, forever uniting them in our collective memory and imagination ... History has failed us, but no matter

"... The most important expression which the present age has found… a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape.”
~ T.S. Eliot lauding 'Cold River' in our dreams ;-)

A fluent stream of words awakens suspicion within me. I prefer stuttering for in stuttering I hear the friction and the disquiet, the effort to purge impurities from the words, the desire to offer something from inside you. Smooth, fluent sentences leave me with a feeling of uncleanness, of order that hides emptiness.
~An Untouchable Fire: Remembering Aharon Appelfeld

“We begin to live when we have conceived life as tragedy.”
W.B. Yeats, The Trembling of the Veil

Within a few generations almost all of us will be forgotten. Those who are not will have no bearing on how we are remembered, who we once were. We will not be there to protest, to correct. In the end we might exist only as a prop in someone else’s story: a plot device, a golem.

Only an artist can tell what it is like for anyone who gets to this planet to survive it. What it is like to die, or to have somebody die; what it is like to be glad
~ James Baldwin

Defying every expectation of what communism used to be, imagine a system where the key to success wasn’t hard work or merit, but conniving and politics. If you sold your soul to the devil, you were rewarded Hey Millennials: Communism Sucks, I Lived It

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.
— George MacDonald, born in 1824

Wisdom listens ... As the wise Vrbov Cemetery mortalist, David BenATAR, once noted even turning blood into ink is bad as "our lives are ultimately meaningless. We cannot satisfy the need for meaning in the mundane." Our human 'iron curtain like' predicament also means that it is impossible to realise genuine escape: "We are in a bind, a fix, a jam, we can't get out, and there is no one to help us ...We are caught in an "existential vise" between life and death ..."

Kneading memory makes the dough of fiction; which we know, sometimes never stops rising ...

The Cold (War) River is finished, I am sensible how imperfectly, but certainly to the best of my limited abilities ... WE HAVE NO VOICE, AND SOMETIMES IN THIS SHORT LIFE ON EARTH WE MUST SCREAM!

"We Became River"
A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."
— G. K. Chesterton via AFL Legend and a Briliant Aboriginal Mittleuropean Mark Heiss

According to a quote sometimes attributed to not so great Jozef Imrich and the great Albert Einstein: "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay in trouble and with problems longer."

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

There is nothing original about me except a little original bohemian sin.
I hope you will be treated unfairly ...

"My position is that you cannot work towards peace being peaceful. If the peace is to be one where everybody’s quiet and doesn’t open up ... share what’s unspeakable ... offer unsolicited criticism ... defend others’ rights to speak and encourage discourse — that peace is worth nothing. It reminds me of the kind of peace that was secured in my old country under the Communist regime. That is the death of democracy. That might have consequences as bad as war—bloody war and conflict. So, to prevent the world from bloody conflict, we must sustain a certain kind of adversarial life in which we are struggling with our problems in public."
~ Krzysztof Wodiczko

“The more one suffers, the more, I believe, has one a sense for the comic. It is only by the deepest suffering that one acquires true authority in the use of the comic, an authority which by one word transforms as by magic the reasonable creature one calls man into a caricature.”
~ Søren Kierkegaard, Stages on Life’s Way

"Cold River's" history keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose. [Cold as ice, but in the soulful hands the story melts ... a literary treat you, insomniacs, can enjoy for years (because that's how long it will take you to get through it ...)]
~ John le Carre

Thomas Aquinas’s ultimate act of apparent humility occurred on December 6, 1273, St. Nicholas’s Day, when he was forty-eight or forty-nine years old. Aquinas was celebrating Mass in the chapel of St. Nicholas, and he again had a vision. What exactly he saw is unknown. But afterward, he did not resume his dictation as he usually would. Reginald prodded him to get back to work, but Aquinas responded, “I can do no more; such things have been revealed to me that all that I have written seems to me as so much straw.” He stopped writing altogether, leaving his Summa Theologiae—the summary of theology, and his masterwork—incomplete.

“An author frequently chooses solemn or overwhelming subjects to write about; he is so impressed at writing about Life and Death that he does not notice that he is saying nothing of the slightest importance about either.”
~Randall Jarrell, “Ten Books” (The Southern Review, Autumn 1935)

François-Marie Arouet aka Voltaire tends to share the most profound observation: “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh”

However meaningless and vain, however dead life appears, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth … steps in and does something. So, the poet Robert Frost said, "no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader".
Is it more foolish to risk your life or risk wasting your life? To live at all is miracle enough ...

Q. How did you get into philosophy in the first place?
A. Failure
— a soulmate, Simon Critchley

MEdia Dragons are keen observers of leadership and politics in all its drama and absurdity.

“My theory has always been to write a real small story against a big background.”
~ Burt Kennedy

As Dr Cope once observed about knowledge and wisdom "...all the data in the world is in the ocean, however the value is in the fish"

There’s so much that’s unsayable and unspeakable about Iron Curtain escapes, but when it comes time for the story to be told, it takes over...There is more to it than any summary could hope to capture.

Dylan Thomas pointed out that the best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps ... so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in.

Prose should be a long intimacy between strangers with no direct appeal to what both may have known. It should slowly appeal to feelings unexpressed, it should in the end draw tears out of the stone.
— Henry Green

Cold River is like a secret image, a photograph is a secret about a secret. It is about surviving and playing the cards that are dealt you, even if it looks like a losing hand. The more it tells you the less you know... The anthropological folkloric tale is about the strange relationship between a secret and knowledge. A secret is, necessarily, relational—like difference, it needs another just to exist, whether to be shared in confidence or because it cannot be shared. It is a perfect book for paranoid times ...

'This story is more than a history of escapes. It’s not easy to say where, exactly, you would shelve it. It could be under memoir. Or is it more like anthropology? . . . The other option would be farce just like the life under communism ...
The aim of Cold River is to prepare a person for death...

"We all know that funny feeling of filthiness, of contagious ickiness. It's a feeling we call the prick of conscience when we make a compromise that we have doubts about. So we think about it again and again, and... we even worry about it somewhat, even though the compromise may have made life easier, compared to what would have happened had we not made it. But for myself...I see that my bravery comes out of cowardice, because I am afraid of feeling that ickiness of feeling that I've done something wrong, that I've made an undesirable compromise, that I've side-stepped; and conversely when I do something that I know is right, I can even have a feeling of euphoria."
~ Vaclav Havel

"We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and elders past and present."

Frequently, one of the best ways to get insight into a culture is through its humour ...
So under communism when we wanted to hear God laugh, we made meticulously planned escapes from the totalitarian regimes. Our young fragile ironic stories under totalitarianism were not crying out to be told. And yet ....

Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Like the ForeReads or Outline, Cold River and Media Dragon are not for everyone. It's for bohemians like you...
Outline

Good blogging like journalism is sharing what somebody else does not want printed; everything else is public relations... It is our business to know something about every subject – or to know where to get the knowledge (Dr Cope, J Hatton, MO'N etc ) One of our strengths is finding stories in unexpected places ...

MEdia Dragons are known for their 6-foot-2 stature and are often expected by totalitarian characters to play villains... There’s a deeper poetry and music that runs through and beneath the Cold River...

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
~Matthew 7:7 (Ask, Seek, Knock )

Consider why you should not go through life without seeking Simon Sinek or seeking the story of the Cold River ...Please suspend your disbelief: “I write about my father and mother, their generation, and my own limited experience, our struggle for individual freedom and self-expression in the Mitteleuropean Orwelean society. Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it. We need to remember that all rivers are fearless and free. They come and go as they please, and borders or governments do not bind them. All rivers are filled with liquid histories and stories. Shame, failure, despair, utter horror, these are all stations on the journey, even after completing a ‘draft of a draft.' Slavic Blues Memoir, the offspring of the slave narrative ...
Certain stories that get virtually no traction nevertheless involve phenomena that are quite important in understanding the way the world operates. For instance, not a lot of people know that 'Cold River' is everywhere as it is the history of the entire world: As every of the tyrant it has deposed ...
Many things in life – oh so many more than we think – can never be explained at all...
“One must be something in order to do something,” Goethe counseled a young friend in 1824 ..." Our story emerges from our bones! And why we are not satisfied with simply making an impression; why do we want to mark our readers and listeners for life?"

Great writing is like diving: anybody can get from the platform to the pool—or the pavement—but some, with grace and sweat and just a bit of swag, can make that brief passage through the air angelic in its beauty and terror. “We started talking about dying long before the first one of us jumped ...

"No one leaves home, unless home is the mouth of a shark. You only run for the border when you see your whole city running as well. You have to understand that no one puts children in a boat, unless the water is safer than the land."
~ 'Home' by Warsan Shire

If you are in the business of finding out what’s true — whether that business is social science, military intelligence, journalism, the hard sciences or something else — there is an elusive quality you find among the best in the field. It might be called the Cold Eye. It’s not a term you will find in textbooks. It’s a matter of character as much as professional skill. It’s some combination of having the mental discipline to gird yourself against your own biases, the instinct to resist the tendency to think that knowledge once learned is static and an ability to look at more signals, data points and ideas from disparate places than other people usually do.
Perhaps more important, the Cold Eye is motivated by a deep intellectual independence and a passionate psychological connection to telling the truth.
~ Tom Rosenstiel

I even ignored advice to change my name ... If I wasn't Jozef Imrich, I'd probably think that Jozef Imrich has a lot of answers myself.

Most writers waste people’s time with too many words. I’m trying to reduce everything
down to the minimum. My last work will be a blank piece of paper.
— Beckett

What an ordinary, artificial life I’ve led. And how ordinary and artificial it is to write about it, as if for ‘posterity’. What do I have to say? In an absolute sense, nothing. And that’s what I’m saying.
— Frenet, Journal

... “If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr
“Show me somethin’ dat caution ever made!”
~ Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Freedom or Death: Ondrej a Milan
"I have one consistency, which is being against the totalitarian – on the left and on the right. The Totalitarian is the enemy

There are no depths of irony, or bad taste, to which extreme communists or rotten capitalists won’t sink if they think they can grab power or make money out of it...

We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come… We live everything as it comes, without warning.

We can only compare Cold River to reading the Bible :-) So escape the beaten path ...

When you read your own work as something fresh, something strange, it can be very exciting – especially if there’s time to make revisions. But then, once published, you almost inevitably discover typos, mistakes, and causes for regret and even remorse. As in a lover’s quarrel, sometimes we wish we could take the words back. But it’s almost never possible. …

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“The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

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Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because this is where the magic happens.
It may seem really strange but I feel as though I actually died some time ago and I’m living in an afterlife. Only in the age of Amazon.com age is a Tale like Cold River by Imrich possible … in 21st century after all,the greatest things in life are shared on the web
Cold River: fast-moving digital waters

“If you know how to read, you do not need many books […] Learn to meditate on a few lines, even from a mediocre author; nothing bears fruit unless it is rooted in meditation.”
~ Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (1802-1861), the French priest who reestablished the Dominican Order after it was neutralized following the French Revolution

We are not the wordly boys we used to be on the interrete. We are no longer desirable, We are off-putting in some way. It’s not just that We have put on weight, or that our face are puffy from the drinking and the lack of sleep; it’s as if people can see the damage written all over us, they can see it in my face, the way we hold ourselves the way we move ...

Maybe we are crazy. Maybe we will change the world: If you live life to the point of tears every Negative has a Positive, You just have to look for it. Blogs Help to filter the world ;-) Without Struggle/No Freedom ...

Sole survivors might often be thought of as anonymous, but we never want to be voiceless. Why true stories and icebergs say so much ... The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. Till taught by pain or borders less travelled, men really know not what freedom's worth: # Each Age Calls forth its own Bohemian Voice... Elena Ferrante

Sandra Cisneros tells us, Write about what makes you different.
Your readers want to see the world through your eyes ... A sole survivor explores the world where the 'other' fears to tread and creates the most unlikely true story you'll ever read. You are different and so is Cold River:

There may be no greater act of bravery for someone with a fear of needles than to donate blood. Of course, it's this kind of giving that is so important to maintaining the Red Cross's life-saving stocks

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist, wrote Salman Rushdie. The Iron Curtain came down since Rushdie's novel, the Satanic Verses, earned the Booker Prize-winning novelist death threats, but the question persists.

MEDIA DRAGON We search the world ... So you can read thoughtful and down to earth media dragons at one place

Can one person make a difference? It's easy to be cynical about the power of one. But a person's importance, so difficult to quantify in life, is perhaps more easily measured in death – and the gaping holes left behind